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Updated: Dec 21, 2025

Biophysical Characterization of Flagellar Motor Functions
Published on: January 18, 2017
Optimal actuation of flagellar magnetic microswimmers
Yacine El Alaoui-Faris1, Jean-Baptiste Pomet2, Stéphane Régnier3
1Université Côte d'Azur, Inria, CNRS, LJAD, McTAO team, 06902 Nice, France and Sorbonne Université, CNRS, ISIR, 75005 Paris, France.
Abstract:
We present an automated procedure for the design of optimal actuation for flagellar magnetic microswimmers based on numerical optimization. Using this method, a magnetic actuation method is provided which allows these devices to swim significantly faster compared to the usual sinusoidal actuation. This leads to a novel swimming strategy which makes the swimmer perform a three-dimensional figure-eight trajectory. This shows that a faster propulsion is obtained when the swimmer is allowed to go out of plane. This approach is experimentally validated on a scaled-up flexible swimmer.
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